Tens of thousands of B.C. residents go home after being forced out by wildfires
KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Tens of thousands of anxious British Columbia residents who were forced to escape raging wildfires have returned home in recent days as firefighters made progress and conditions improved.
About 20,000 people remained displaced on Monday, but that number was down significantly from 45,000 last week, said Chris Duffy, executive director of operations at Emergency Management BC.
People have returned to 100 Mile House and its surrounding areas, as well as Princeton, Cache Creek and Lac La Hache, all communities where evacuation orders have been downgraded to alerts, he said.
“Those are thousands and thousands of people starting to mobilize and return home, so those numbers can change quite dramatically,” Duffy said.